Ukrainian Trainers Receive International Recognition
Obstetrician Roman Savka and three other Urainian health care providers—midwife Lubov Polyakova and neonatologists Natalia Podolchak and Dmytro Dobryansky—master trainers for effective evidence-based perinatal technologies were recently recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO) as “international trainers”. Now, at the request of the European WHO Headquarters, they conduct trainings in Russia, Georgia, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.
The team has the USAID-funded Maternal and Infant Health Project (MIHP) to thank for their achievements. In Ukraine since 2003, MIHP has worked with the Ministry of Health, maternity hospitals, and communities to markedly improve perinatal practices through professional trainings and technical/informational support, the provision of life-saving equipment, and the development of behavior change campaigns.
Initially, international experts were hired to train local health care providers on effective evidence-based perinatal technologies. Now, Ukrainian trainers are training physicians in neighboring countries.
Savka, an obstetrician from the Lutsk Maternity Hospital, recalls the first training he has attended. “I remember my skepticism and non-acceptance of the new birthing practices. It was unheard off for me and my colleagues that a women can give a birth without a Rakhmanov bed and with relatives present. It took me a while to change my mind and two years to master new skills so I could pass my knowledge on to others,” he said.
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Roman Savka during training in Georgia
Photo Credit: Irina Matvienko |
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